


wishing pool

by bilexualclarke



Series: home is the feeling of your hand in mine [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, honestly I saw the picture and this is where my mind went, season 4 speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 14:00:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8448910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bilexualclarke/pseuds/bilexualclarke
Summary: “It seems like before the nukes, people spent a lot of time wishing for things,” Bellamy muses after a beat, leaning against the side of the wishing pool and tipping his head towards the sky, bleeding hues of red and pink with the sunset. “They must have had a lot more hope than we do. You know, optimism and all that shit.”“We can have hope, too,” Clarke murmurs, inching closer until her toes touch his under the water. “I have hope, Bell.”Bellamy sighs, turning to face her. His eyes are scrunched shut and without thinking, Clarke traces the line that forms across his forehead. “I don’t know if I have it in me to hope anymore.”





	

inspired by [this picture](https://twitter.com/TVWatchtower/status/793491250808692736)

* * *

Miller was the one to find it, the small pool of water just a few meters in circumference and a little less than two meters deep, hidden behind the winding rock formations near the lake they’ve been using for washing at their makeshift camp. Harper dubs it the Wishing Pool, closing her eyes for a moment before tossing a smooth stone into the water. They don’t have any coins, like people used pre-nukes, but she finds enough stones to hand out to everyone.

Monty tosses his in first, then Miller and Bryan, the Raven. Jasper tries to skip his, and the rock hops three times before sinking. Clarke goes next, and Octavia startles everyone with how gently she drops her stone into the rippling waves. 

Everyone looks to Bellamy, who is staring at the rock, twirling it between his fingers with a forlorn expression.

“Why don’t we get started on dinner?” Bryan says after a beat, nudging Miller away. The rest of the group mumble their excuses and disperse, until it is just Bellamy and Clarke, standing next to each other in stoic silence.

Clarke thinks back to the last time they stood like this, staring at the open water, waiting for a signal from Luna’s people.

At the time, she’d had a fleeting thought, a desire to go for a swim in the waves. The water would have been freezing, for sure, but maybe that’s what she would have needed. The stark cleansing chill of the water to shock her into her senses.

Bellamy is still staring at the rock, and it doesn’t look like he’s going to be speaking any time soon. He’s been doing that a lot lately, getting stuck in his head, his mind lost to a swirling tornado of self-loathing and regret. Clarke would never tell him, but it makes her uneasy. He’s always been the one pulling her out of her thoughts, not the other way around.

But they’re partners, and they help each other no matter what, which is why Clarke sighs dramatically and kicks off her boots. Her socks follow, and she refuses to let herself blush when she strips off her pants. It is when she toys with the hem of her shirt that she glances up at Bellamy, and her heart sinks to find him still staring at the stone.

Clarke narrows her eyes and pulls her shirt off completely, her skin prickling as it is caressed by the breeze. The weather is considerably warmer now than it had been when they were looking for Luna, but the air still has a slight chill to it, especially against her now-heated skin. She tosses the shirt in Bellamy’s direction, smirking when he sees him glance up, his brow furrowed in confusion.

She doesn’t give him a moment to admire her, standing in the fading light of the sun in just her worn Ark-issued bra and underwear, a faded grey that never seemed pretty until now. Clarke crouches down and slips into the water, hissing as it prickles her skin. It’s not freezing, but the temperature is definitely a shock.

“Clarke,” Bellamy says thickly, shoving his hands into his pockets, “what are you doing?”

“I felt like a swim,” she replies coyly. “Or a dip, rather.”

The water licks at her exposed collarbones and his eyes do the same.

“Clarke,” Bellamy repeats, swallowing thickly. She crouches lower in the water until it comes up to her lips, her toes crunching the silt below her. She blows teasingly into the water, spraying some his way.

“Are you going to let me sit here all by myself? I can’t swim that well, you know.”

This at least makes him crack a smile, and he starts to unlace his boots. “I can’t either,” he says as he kicks them off, stripping his shirt quickly after.

“Well,” Clarke says, eyeing the toned muscles of his stomach and the broad expanse of his shoulders, all thick cords of muscle covered by rich brown skin, “I guess we’ll just have to drown together.”

She means it as a joke, but it falls flat. His grin fades as he slides into the water next to her, not close enough to touch her but close enough for her to see the dusting of freckles over his shoulders.

“It seems like before the nukes, people spent a lot of time wishing for things,” Bellamy muses after a beat, leaning against the side of the wishing pool and tipping his head towards the sky, bleeding hues of red and pink with the sunset. “They must have had a lot more hope than we do. You know, optimism and all that shit.”

“We can have hope, too,” Clarke murmurs, inching closer until her toes touch his under the water. “I have hope, Bell.”

Bellamy sighs, turning to face her. His eyes are scrunched shut and without thinking, Clarke traces the line that forms across his forehead.

“I don’t know if I have it in me to hope anymore.”

When the tear escapes, she knows it’s by accident, but she still brushes it off of his cheek with her thumb, curling her hand around his jaw. She knows that for once, he’s not thinking about everyone else, but referring to himself.

“I have hope for you, Bellamy,” she whispers, pressing their foreheads together. “You deserve to be saved, too.”

When their lips finally touch, there is no spark, no fireworks exploding in the back of Clarke’s brain. Her heart doesn’t skip a beat, but instead slows down, and she feels herself relax into his touch. His soft breaths tickle her cheeks and the feeling of his chapped lips against hers makes her think someone she hasn’t thought in a long time- _home._

They stay in the water until their skin prunes and their lips are swollen. Bellamy’s hands had found their way to her waist, pulling her flush against his body. The feeling of him so close to her, warm and solid and _hers_ , had done something silly to her core, something that made her grind her hips up against is. His fingers had slipped below the band of her underwear and rubbed her until she was keening and clutching his shoulders, and the feeling of her falling apart at his touch sparked an unfamiliar but not unwelcome feeling in Bellamy’s chest.

The sun sets completely by the time they pull themselves from the pool, shaking dry like dogs and laughing as they pull on their clothes. They can see the flames from the campfire from around the bend of the rocks, and Clarke pulls him down for one last kiss before they head back.

“You’re a good man, Bellamy,” she whispers against his lips. “Promise me you’ll start to believe that.”

“I’m going to try to be,” he says honestly, and though they aren’t the words she was looking for, she knows he means them with all his heart. Clarke squeezes the back of his neck and presses one more chaste kiss to his lips before pulling away.

“Let’s go eat, yeah?”

Bellamy lags behind and watches her head back towards camp, thinking back to the last time he was given an opportunity to make a wish. He pictures Clarke’s face, somehow younger even though it was less than a year ago, illuminated by the glow of the flares they had just launched into the sky.

_Do you think you can make a wish on this kind of shooting star?_

_I wouldn’t even know what to wish for._

Bellamy closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, the weight on his chest feeling lighter for the first time in a long time. His fingers slip into his pocket and curl around the small stone. 

He knows what to wish for now. 

He pulls the stone free of his pocket tosses it into the pool, watching it sink below the surface until it was out of sight. Once it disappears, he turns, and follows Clarke back to their people. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> these season 4 spoilers are killing me and I love it. let's talk about them on tumblr!  
> (bilexualclarke)


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